BIRDS TRAINED TO HUNT 117 



Types of Hawks 



Before entering into a discussion of hawking 

 as practised in Europe during the Middle Ages, 

 and, for that matter, to a small extent to-day, a 

 more detailed description of the proper kinds of 

 hawks should be given. Three well-defined, an- 

 atomically differentiated groups of raptorial 

 birds are employed: the long- winged falcons, the 

 short-winged hawks, and the eagles. Of these the 

 last never reached great popularity in Europe, 

 a fact not only due to the native sluggishness of 

 the birds while on the wing, but because emperors, 

 according to feudal practices, were the only per- 

 sons permitted to fly them. Eagles, however, 

 have attained a certain prominence among many 

 present-day Asiatic tribes. Nevertheless, we 

 shall confine ourselves for the moment to those 

 hawks which have played such a great part in 

 the past history of both England and France. 



First in order of virtue come the falcons, the 

 long-winged group, including gerfalcons, pere- 

 grines, sakers, merlins, and kestrels. Gerfalcons 

 inhabit Scandinavia, Siberia, Iceland, Greenland, 

 the northern United States, Canada, and the arctic 

 regions. Peregrines are spread largely over the 

 entire world, the duck-hawk being the American 

 representative of these birds so famous in medie- 

 val history. Sakers are subtropical or tropical 



